Benjamin l



(No Model.)

' B. L; FLETCHER.

MAOHINE FO R MAKING FENCING.

N0. 301,877. v Patented July 15, 1884.

H in 755,575,? W

N. PETERS. Photo-Lithographer, Walhinglum ll I.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN L. FLETCHER, or WIOHITA, KANsAs, AssIeNon on ONE-HALF TO JOHN M. DUNKIN, or SAME PLAon.

MACHINE FOR MAKING FENCING,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 301,877, dated July 15, 1884. i Application filed March 20, 1884. (No model.) I

To aZl whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN L. FLETCH- ER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at WVichita, in the county of Sedg- 5 wick and State of Kansas, have invented'certain new an d n seful Improvements in Machines.

for Making Fences, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention pertains to an improvement in machines for making wire fences wherein the fences are made of pickets, panels, or slats woven togetherwith wire; and it consists in the peculiar construction, combination, and 15 arrangement of parts to enable the wire to be supplied and resupplied to each pair of the spools simultaneously when exhausted therefrom in the progress of the work by use of but a single crank-shaft and removable belt 20 ing, in order to facilitate the work and lighten I the labor thereof, substantially as hereinafter more fully shown and described.

In the accompanying drawing, the figure is a plan view of my improvement.

, 25 In the construction of my improvement in machines for making'fen ces I dispose the spools a and b on the shafts B and B, and also arms D, carrying the friction-rollers f, and feed the wire to the pickets from the spools a a and b 0 b as it is twisted upon the pickets E, the twisting operation being performed bythe actuating-crank F, through shafts B B, sprocketwheels H H, and chain I; hence it is essential that the wire be resupplied to the spools 3 5 by winding it thereon when that held or contained by the spools becomes from time to time exhausted in manufacturing the fence. But the objective point of my invention is not merely to resupply the spools withthe wire 0 when exhausted therefrom, but to provide machinery by means of which this may be attained by minimum expenditure, both. as to cost of machinery and labor. To accomplish this purpose I- provide mechanism simple in 4 5 its construction, and whose weight is scarcely perceptible to the operator in the operation of weaving the pickets, and mount on suitable bearings in frame A, and at a point inter mediate between the spools a a and b I), the shaft 0, having adjustably secured thereto pulleys G, geared by belting d to coincident pulleys d, in like manner secured to spool-shafts B and B.

belts, and when wire from drums suitably mounted to revolve, and located conveniently beneath the spools, has been supplied to the spools upon shaft B the belting is removed to the corresponding spools upon the opposite shaft, B, and the crank of actuating-shaft O is rotated until all the spools are thus supplied, whereupon the belting is removed from the pulleys, and the only weight needful to be put in motion by the labor of the operator is that which is essential to the immediate manufacture of the fence.

The means shown for setting, holding, and releasing the picket and the reel, so far as they are of my invention, are those claimed in my concurrent application No. 123,302l

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a machine for making fences. the combination of the shaft 0, having crank O, and mounted on frame A, pulleys G, d, and d, and belting d, substantially as shown, and for the purpose described.

2. In a machine for making fences, the combination of the shaft 0, having crank O, spools a and 12, having arms D and friction rolls f, pulleys G and d and d, and belting d substantially as shown and described.

The ends of each of these belts are .hooked together, as is usual with removable In testimony whereof I affix my signaturein presence of two witnesses. BENJAMIN L. FLETCHER.

Witnesses:

J. NoTA MoGILL, H. N. HALL. 

